Floating
by Justthisguyyouknow
Summary: A follow on to my story "Ten Seconds". It is Post Sozin's Comet. Toph wakes up with no memory of what happened during the airship battle. This is an alternate reality ending to the series. TophxSokka
1. Chapter 1

Floating:

a Avatar the Last Airbender fanfiction

Set up: This takes place after a previous story I wrote "Ten Seconds" which was at the end of the airship battle during "Sozin's Comet" where I had Toph fall from the airship, and Sokka jumps after her. This story is fairly straight forward but you might want to read the previous story first just for clarity.

* * *

Floating: Part 1

* * *

Toph was floating and she hated it. She never liked the feeling of floating because she could not "feel" anything, which meant that she was truly blind. _I must be dreaming_ she thought. If she was actually floating on water she would at least feel the water on her skin. Of course she could be floating on air but that would be silly, no she must be dreaming.

The young girl felt something touch her forehead, just a light breath of moving air, then a slight tingle, and then it was gone. _What was that? _She wondered. Whatever it was it had woken her up, and she realized that she had been dreaming. She opened her eyes and saw… nothing, but she still could not _feel _anything, she was still floating.

Toph tried to move but felt a heavy weight on top of her, nothing specific, just a general weight covering her. She tried to move her arms but they seemed to be held down by her sides. She tried to move her fingers but they didn't seem to be responding. She tried to touch her side but she could not feel anything with her hands. As she moved them slightly against the weight an ache began to spread up her hands into her forearms. It wasn't bad but her hands definitely hurt.

The earthbender then tried to move her legs. They were held down but she could move them from side to side with no problem, they felt a little scratchy against the sheets… _sheets!_ That was it, she was in a bed, a big soft bed, with sheets and a comforter, or blankets that had been tightly tucked in. That was the weight that was holding her down.

_Where am I?_ Toph wondered. Was she home in Gaoling? She listened for a moment, but she did not hear anything. That meant she was not home, there was always someone moving around the big house or the estate. She started to wriggle her way up and out from under the bed clothes, her hands began to really hurt but she kept going _I must have really hurt them_ she thought, but she kept moving until her legs were finally free and she was lying on top of the bed. _that was a lot of work_ she told herself _I'm as weak as a kitten. What is wrong with me that I am so weak_ she hated being weak and helpless, and she was not going to allow it now. She scrunched herself up the bed until her back was against the headboard and she paused to catch her breath.

The blind girl felt her left hand with her right and found that both her hands, as far as she could tell, were wrapped in heavy bandages as though she were wearing large thumbless mittens, that extended half way up her arms. _What happened to me?_ she wondered. She could remembered that she, Meathead, and that Suki Girl were going to help Aang by attacking the Fire Nation Air Fleet, and she remembered earthbending all three of them onto an airship, but after that it became very sandy. She realized she must have been hurt at some point but could not remember exactly what happened.

_What am I wearing?_ Toph wondered. Around her middle was a bunch of cloth _is that a diaper?_ she asked herself, _how long have I been in this bed?_ She took a quick sniff but didn't smell anything .

"Well that's a relief" she said quietly to herself.

The young girl noticed that only half her nose was working, her left nostril was blocked by something. She reached up with her left hand to clear it, but all she succeeded in doing was to bang her nose against the bandage on her hand. The contact sent another stab of pain into her hand and down her arm. _This is just stupid! _She thought. Her mother used to do this to her when she was a little girl, tie mittens on her hands to keep her from picking her nose. She was really starting to get annoyed by all of this. _What is going on here?_ she asked herself.

Toph checked the rest of her ensemble, which seemed to consist of some kind of a long shirt. She then felt on her left bicep for her space earth armband and, even though she could not feel much through the bandages, she could tell that the armband was not there. _Now this is just too much_ she told herself, _someone is going to pay, and pay dearly for all of this_. She sat there a moment contemplating what she was going to do to someone, _Sokka probably_ she told herself, when a new idea came to her _Wait a minute, I didn't smell anything, where is my healthy covering of dirt?_

Toph reached up to feel her hair but with the bandages on her hands, she really could not feel anything specific, but her hair seemed to be hanging down her back in a pony tail. She could feel it as she moved her head back and forth against the headboard. _If this is one of Meathead's stupid pranks_ she ranted to herself, _he is going to be so dead! I am going to bury him up to_ _his_ _pony tail!_

The blind girl worked her way to the right side of the bed. She felt a night stand that stood by the edge of the bed. She moved down until she felt clear space off of the side. With one hand on the bed and the other on the nightstand she lowered her legs over the side of the bed and felt for the floor. _No joy_ she thought as her feet hung loose over the side not touching anything but the side of the bed.

The young earthbender sat there a moment trying to decide what to do. Finally she told herself _well it's not like I am going to be jumping off an airship or something, this stupid bed can't be that high off the floor_. She then took a deep breath and slipped off of the bed and onto the floor. It was only a short distance before her feet landed on a large flat stone. Her body came to a jolting stop when she hit the floor, well most of her body, her chest was, as always now, about a half second behind the rest of her. This whole becoming a woman thing made no sense to her. Shaving her legs and armpits, her chest having to catch up with the rest of her all the time, and _"Tui's monthly gift to women"_ as Katara put it, that was a present she would have sent back unopened if she had the choice.

Toph felt a huge wave of relief and joy go through her as she felt the stone under her feet. She was in contact with the earth again, she could _feel_ again.

"Sweetness" she breathed.

She could feel the room now. It was familiar in some way. It was a simple bedroom with a wardrobe in one corner, two chairs by the bed and a door in the far wall. Now she could feel the nightstand and what was on it, there was a jug of liquid, a bowl, a cup, some rolled up cloth, and _My armband!_ She reached for the band but because of the bandages she could not pick it up. Finally using both bandaged hands she got it up off of the nightstand and eventually got it onto her arm. For some reason she could not explain, getting it on made her feel better than even getting on the ground did.

Leaning on the bed Toph raised one heel and popped it down onto the stone, sending out a wave of bending into the surrounding area. She felt the building, and the occupants inside it. The other bedrooms seemed to be divided up into boys and girls rooms. Some of them were awake and moving around, others were still in their beds, whoever they were. _It must be early in the morning_ she told herself. The young bender popped her heel again a little harder this time and felt the wave go out and come back giving her more information. There were a lot of similar houses in all directions from this one. Farther out there was a wall. She did it again harder and felt more buildings and more walls going on and on into the distance. _Ba Sing Se_ she told herself _I hate this place! What am I doing here?_

Toph felt her legs begin to tremble from fatigue even after the short time she had been standing. She sat down on the cool stone floor then shifted herself around to lean her back against the stone wall of the room. At least she could feel her surroundings now, _At least it's an Earth Kingdom city with stone and earth buildings_ she told herself. If this place had been made of wood she would still be blind and lost, now she was just hurt, hungry, and angry. She wanted some real clothes, something to drink, some meat, and most of all she wanted to pick her nose. Once she got her energy back she was either going to start screaming or just knock this whole place down.

As the twelve year old sat there, she felt someone walking down the hall that passed by the door to the room, it was a woman. A big smile broke out on her face as she recognized those distinctive, direct, no nonsense steps.

"Hey Sugar Queen!" she called, "I need some clothes".

The footsteps stopped, then Toph felt them run to the door, which flew open and Katara stood for a moment looking at the bed, then searching the room, she called out,

"Toph?".

There was worry in her voice. The young girl would have played with older one for a while except for the concern that she heard. Instead she said,

"I'm over here, Sugar Queen".

Katara rushed to where Toph sat on the floor squatted down and grabbed her shoulders.

"Toph you're awake! Are you alright?" She asked of the earthbender, but before Toph could answer Katara continued "You had us so worried, you were so hurt and you just wouldn't wake up".

Toph began to stand up, and Katara helped her to her feet.

"I'm fine, I'm fine" she said as she tried to fend Katara off with her bandaged hands. "What's with these?" she asked holding up her hands.

Katara, still holding Toph's shoulders, began to herd her towards the bed.

"You really hurt your hands and wrists when you landed" She said as she maneuvered her up against the side of the bed.

_Landed?_ Toph asked herself.

Katara tried to push her onto the bed telling her,

"You've been unconscious for days. You need to get back into bed".

_Days!_ Toph thought, then she told the water bender,

"Oh no I'm not! You are not getting me onto that instrument of torture again. I can't feel when I'm on that thing, I'm staying right here on solid earth!".

Katara gave up trying to get Toph onto the bed and using her toe, pulled a chair over to them.

"Here, at least sit down then" she said while maneuvering Toph into the chair. Then she called out "Toph's awake!".

Toph surrendered and sat in the wooden chair but kept her feet firmly on the floor.

"What's with the shouting?" she asked the waterbender.

"Oh, that's a Suki-ism" Katara said as she pulled Toph's shirt down where it had bunched up around her waist as she was sitting on the floor.

The blind bender tried to bat Miss Fussy Britches away but she just didn't have the energy to do much. Toph thought of _Fan Girl_, it had been bad enough when _Mr. Sparky Sparky Angry Man_ had joined the group, but then when _the Kyoshi Queen_ showed up she really changed everything, and it seemed like she still was.

Toph pushed those thoughts out of her mind as she shifted her focus onto the rest of the house. She felt the rest of the people burst into sudden movement as some started to run for "her" bedroom and others got up and started dressing. She didn't feel Twinkle Toes but she heard a rush of air and figured he was on his scooter. There was _the Suki Girl_ she was light on her feet but she seemed to grab the ground with her toes even when she was running. Oh and there was the _Old tea man_ he was here, and a small half smile came to her lips as she recognized his sure but careful steps. There was a new woman, or not so new maybe, she had gliding steps even with the obvious heels on her shoes, that was it! She was one of the phony Kyoshi warriors, not the bouncy one that liked Stupid, this was the bored one. And there was Sparky himself throwing on clothes and coming out into the hall.

There was one person she searched for but she could not find him. Those big flat feet of Sokka's, he walked with his toes splayed out to the sides as if he were just wandering around. _Unless he was fighting_ Toph reminded herself. When he was fighting he stopped being Snoozles and became someone else, sure, quick, and balanced. His feet light on the earth, yet somehow firm and solid at the same time. When Sokka fought it was a real pleasure to feel him move. Not dancelike the way Sugar Queen moved, or floaty the way Twinkle toes flitted around, or stomping around like Sparky, or studied the way Suki did. Sokka was exciting, you never knew when he was going to stop or start, where he was going to go next, always ready to move but solid when he stopped. She loved to feel him move when he really meant it, like the time he was fighting his Sifu.

Toph was pulled from her thoughts by Aang awkwardly hugging her as she sat in the chair. He asked her,

"Are you alright?" then the airbender added "You really scared us!"

Toph tried to push him away as she had done with Katara, who was now standing just to the side of her, with as little success. The young girl was getting embarrassed with all this attention, and punched Aang in the arm while saying,

"I'm fine Twinkle…" but was cut off by the sharp stab of pain as her right hand made contact with his arm. _Can't do that for a while_ she told herself as she inhaled with a hiss from the pain.

The young bender felt the others assemble at the door to the room. Fan girl, Iroh, the new Glidy girl, and Sparky just stood in the door way, Sparky was holding on to Glidy girl, with an arm around her waist. _Well that's new_ she thought. She was starting to get a little angry with all these people looking at her. Of course she had no idea how she looked, but she was sure that the outfit they had her in was not very flattering. She sat there trying to breathe deeply to calm herself but her left nostril was still clogged up. She reached up without thinking to get that booger out of there and once again she hit her nose with her bandaged left hand. More pain to this hand now, with her nose added in for good measure.

Toph was really getting sick of all this, everybody staring at her, no food, no clothes and worst of all no nose picking.

"Where's Captain Boomerang?" She asked. "I need some expert nose picking and he's the only one of you that isn't an amateur".

This got an unexpected reaction from everyone. Suki started making little choking sounds, turned and walked into the main room of the house. Glidy girl grabbed Sparky's hand, Old tea man seemed to deflate slightly. Sugar Queen just stood there holding her hands against her stomach. Twinkle toes looked at Sugar Queen then turned to Toph and quietly said,

"Sokka's not here, Toph".

The blind girl stood up, and turning to Aang asked,

"What is he still asleep?, Well wake him up and tell him to get his lazy butt in here, I need him."

Katara said,

"No Toph, Sokka's gone."

_Is she crying,_ Toph asked herself, then asked,

"Well where is he? Is he out shopping for meat or something?"

The young earthbender lifted her foot and pounded it into the floor, sending a powerful wave of bending out into the city, searching for Sokka. She felt the building shake from the wave but she didn't care about this stupid house, she had to find Stupid. She quickly sorted through everyone around them and could not find him. _This is just too much_ she told herself, _I am going to find him no matter what._

Even though Toph could not use her hands she could still use her arms and this time she did, executing the full kata and stomped her foot down really hard while shouting out,

"Sokka!".

The wave burst out and rapidly spread thorough out the upper ring of the city. The twelve year old felt the ground shake, and she heard the sounds of falling roof tiles and of people shouting, but she did not find him. She began the form again, more powerfully this time, if she could send a strong enough wave out, and could shout his name loud enough she would find him and he would come to her. People were shouting her name but she just blocked them out, they were just minor distractions to what she had to do. She brought her foot down while screaming,

"SOKKA!"

The earthbending wave went out into the whole city. There was more noise of crumbling walls, cracking stone, and people screaming from outside but she just blocked it out as she had done with the shouting in the room. Someone was trying to grab her but she bent the floor up to push them away. She began the form again.

Toph brought her foot down, screaming as loud as she could,

"SOKKA!"

The muscles in her back and in her stomach begin to spasm trying to force more air out of her, she didn't care if it tore her apart as long as she could call him back, as long as she could find him. The wave spread out from her and smashed through the city and out into the country side. She could feel the people swarming like ants as their ant hill crumbled but she couldn't find him.

Toph began the form again, adding all the power she could to it, then she heard something that she could not block out. It was a single word,

"Dead".

She wasn't sure who said it. It was said quietly but it grabbed her attention. She continued the form but a part of her mind was now listening and she heard a raspy woman's voice say that one word again,

"Dead".

Toph felt someone kneeling in front of her, it was Mai, and she heard that distinctive quiet voice again.

"He's dead Toph."

Toph slowly lowered her foot to the floor. She could sense the room again and she could feel earthbending all around her in the city. She could feel Aang earthbending right in the room, but all she could hear was Mai's voice as she softly said,

"Sokka's dead Toph."

* * *

To Be Continued

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**Disclaimer :** "Avatar the Last Airbender" the characters and the world were created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom or Paramount or some huge corporation. This is purely a work of fan fiction because I wanted to play in their world and I love the characters that they created.

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Authors Notes:

This is the second story I ever wrote. I have tried to clean it up and edit it to make it more presentable. I am putting it up since I am so far behind on "I'll Walk You Home". I hope to get the next chapter of that up this weekend.

I figure Toph would be a 9.0 on the Richter scale.

I hope you enjoy this. There are two more parts that I will try to re-edit and get up this weekend as well.

All comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

JustThisGuyYouKnow


	2. Chapter 2

Floating:

An Avatar the Last Airbender fanfiction

* * *

Set up: This takes place after a previous story I wrote "Ten Seconds" which was at the end of the airship battle during "Sozin's Comet" where I had Toph fall from the airship, and Sokka jumps after her. This story is fairly straight forward but you might want to read the previous story first just for clarity.

* * *

Part 2

* * *

Toph woke up, she could tell she had been crying and she hated it. Stupid useless eyes she thought, _only good for crying_. She was lying on the floor of "her" bedroom instead of in that evil bed so at least she could feel what was going on around her. She used her bandaged right hand to feel for her space earth armband, and was happy to find it there. She rolled onto her back and pulled her knees up so she could place her feet flat on the stone of the floor. She found that she didn't have to do anything after that. There was so much earthbending going on in the city she didn't need to generate any waves of her own to feel by. The benders were repairing the damage that she had caused to all of the buildings, roads, and walls of the city. _Serves them right_ she thought bitterly, _for living in such a horrible place_.

The blind girl raised her left hand to pick her nose but stopped herself in time, remembering the bandages on her hands. She then used her hand to wipe away the tears and snot that had accumulated on her face as she had cried herself to sleep. It hurt but she was coming to accept that as the norm. She found that all her crying had not dislodged that _evil, miserable, stupid, rotten, disgusting, awful, really evil_ booger that was stuck in the left side of her nose. Since she could not pick it out she just rubbed her nose as best she could with her bandaged hand, but it did no good, the booger was there and that was that.

Toph could feel the rest of the people in the guest house. Sugar Queen, Glidey Girl, and Sparky where in the main room. The Suki Girl was out on the patio. Old Tea Man was in the kitchen making tea. Twinkle Toes was not in the house. She located him near by helping in making repairs. She just didn't feel like dealing with anyone right now so she just lay on the cold stone, holding as best she could onto her _his?_ armband, and thinking about how much she hated, well everything.

* * *

Katara was pacing back and forth while Mai and Zuko were sitting next to each other on one of the couches. They were all dressed in the long robes favored by residents of this circle of Ba Sing Sei. Mai finally stirred herself and asked in her laconic way,

"Katara, I thought you said they were just friends?".

Katara stopped her pacing and looked towards Suki on the patio for a moment, then walked over to stand near Mai and in a muted voice asked,

"Who?, you mean Toph and Sokka?" .

"No," Mai sarcastically replied "I mean Azula and Chan".

Katara gave her a _who?_ look and Zuko poked Mai in the side, she gave him a _what?_ look, and received a, _be good look_ in reply. With poor grace she looked to the ceiling and then turned her attention back to Katara.

Katara took this opportunity to take another quick look at the patio, then she sat down on the low table in front of the couch.

"As far as I knew" she said in a low voice "they were just friends, or maybe a big brother, kid sister sort of thing. Toph was always making fun of Sokka, and hitting him or beating him up."

Mai now looked genuinely curious and asked,

"Just him or everyone else too?".

Katara thought a moment then said,

"Well everyone really, but mostly Sokka."

"She hit me once" piped in Zuko, then he added "Really hard too. She said it was her way of showing affection."

"Just the once?" asked Mai, and Zuko nodded.

Katara looked at Zuko for a moment then tuned to look toward the patio before saying,

"She would hit Aang occasionally but mostly it was Sokka who had bruises at the end of the day."

Mai leaned forward at this and asked both of them,

"What was Sokka like around her?"

They both thought for a moment then Zuko leaned in and said,

"I don't know, he just sort of shrugged the punches off, though come to think of it they were kind of a unit, I mean they were always together, I figured it was because I had burned her feet and Sokka was always carrying her around. Of course after we" He shot a quick glance toward the patio and then moved in a little closer before continuing "rescued Suki Sokka spent most of his time with her not Toph."

Katara now joined in,

"Zuko is right, before Suki, Sokka and Toph were always together, she'd make fun of him, and he would tell her how great she was, what a powerful bender she was, how glad he was that she had joined the team, and so on. He would always offer her an arm when she needed one, but that was all, it's not as though they were a couple or anything. I mean she is just a kid really". Then Katara looked at Mai and asked "What are you driving at?"

"Well…" Mai began, "It just seems to me that Toph's reaction was pretty strong for a 'just a friend' sort of thing, or even a brother sister thing. The only reason this city is still standing is because it is full of earthbenders." She let that sink in a second then added "I mean we didn't get a lot of updates on current events in… where I was, but when Aang told you" and she indicated Katara, "your brother was dead did you destroy a major coastal city, or sink a fleet or something?"

Katara's dark face became darker and redder as she flushed angrily. In a sharp whisper she told Mai,

"I loved my brother, don't think that I didn't, just because I have some self control…"

But then she stopped when Mai held up a hand in surrender.

"I'm sorry" Mai said apologetically "I didn't mean that you didn't love him. It's just that if you had told me that Zuko" with this she looked at him and moved her arm to hold his, "had been killed… Well…, I would still be searching in Azula's guts to find something else I could hurt before I killed her."

The two benders both saw the truth in knife expert's eyes as she said this, which gave Zuko both a warm feeling in his heart and a chill down his spine, and which mollified Katara's anger and hurt.

"I know you loved your brother" Mai said "and I am not saying you loved him more or less than anyone else, there is no more or less with love, only different. It does not really matter how Sokka loved Toph, but it does matter how Toph loved him, because that changes how we have to deal with her and his death."

The three sat quietly for a moment then unconsciously they all turned their heads and looked towards Suki who stood on the balcony staring out over the city.

* * *

As Toph lay on the cool stones of her bedroom floor she felt Old Tea Man come out of the kitchen carrying a tray with a pot and cups. He was headed for the main room. By the time she felt Twinkle Toes return she had come to a decision and she told herself _Well might as well get started on it_. She got her feet under her and stood up, a little uncertainly at first. She found she was still in her bed outfit but now she just didn't care. She went to the door and after a little fumbling she got it open and quietly went into the hall and then walked into the main room.

The young earthbender stood in the doorway for a time, they were all in there, and even the Suki Girl had come in off of the patio. Aang was sitting on the floor playing with Momo, the rest were sitting around drinking tea. Iroh was sitting at a table with a Pai sho game set up on it. He was the first to notice her in the doorway. He looked up at her and after a moment or two said,

"Toph, it is good to see you up and moving about."

Everyone looked up at Iroh's words and then at Toph. Aang was up and moving first, then Katara stood and started for her. Before either could arrive, Toph held up her hands and said,

"I'm fine, I'm fine, sorry for all the trouble, can I have some tea, it smells really good."

Aang got to her and took one arm while Katara joined in and took the other side and they helped her to a chair. Iroh bustled out to the kitchen saying,

"Let me get you a cup".

Toph sat in the chair while Miss Fussy Britches flitted around her, pulling and straightening her "shirt thing", eventually Katara finished and said,

"Let me get you a robe, so you can be more comfortable."

The waterbender left the room headed for the bedroom.

"Sorry about…" Toph wasn't sure what to call her _outburst_ but finally gave up and said "all the trouble".

She hated apologizing, hated saying she was sorry.

There was a chorus of,

"Oh, no trouble"

and

"You were hurt and confused"

and the worst of all an

"I understand" from the Suki Girl.

Old Tea Man came in with a fresh pot and a clean cup. He set it up on a small table and brought the table and all over to Toph's chair.

"This tea is from Kyoshi Island" he told her, and then he added "I hope you like it" as he poured her a cup.

Katara returned with a long robe over her arm. While Iroh was setting up the tea, Katara got Toph up and put the robe on her and buttoned it up.

"There, isn't that much better?" She asked as Toph sat down again. Katara added "You look nice" as she moved to hover behind the chair.

_The Suki Girl changes everything, even the tea _Toph thought angrily, but she had to admit that the tea had a lovely light aroma. Toph held up her hands wrapped round and round in the bandages and said,

"Sorr…," she stopped herself then started again "I don't have any thumbs" then she thought and asked the group "I do actually have thumbs don't I?"

Everyone froze for an instant then Sugar Queen's voice came from behind the chair,

"Oh yes!, Yes!. The bandages will have to stay on for another day or two but your hands should be fine, it will just take some time before you've fully recovered." Katara shifted around and took the cup saying "Here let me help you with that." She brought the cup to Toph's lips and she took a sip.

"Thanks" the young girl said.

Toph was distracted from the tea by her thoughts _Crickets? Do I hear crickets? Come on, that was a pretty good joke about the thumbs_ All of them were either looking at her or studying their tea cups. _I miss Sokka_ she told herself, _he would have laughed! Laughed? __He__ would have had a fit! Then he would have come back with some lame joke of his own_ Toph's eyes began to burn with tears, _Stop that!_ she shouted at herself _Stupid useless eyes, just stop that!_. She took a deep breath and pushed the tears down.

Katara asked,

"Do you want some more?"

"Sure" Toph sighed and took another sip as Sugar Queen brought the cup to her mouth.

The tea was really very good, light but with a very nice flavor. The warm liquid felt very good but very lonely in her stomach, which suddenly growled loudly in appreciation. Iroh jumped up from his chair and said as he headed for the kitchen,

"You must be starving, I have some soup on the stove that I was preparing for lunch, let me get you some" and he bustled out of the room.

Silence again descended on the room and everyone tried to not look at Toph. Katara put the cup back down on the table.

_Earthbenders meet things head on_ Toph told herself, _so better get this started,_. She took a breath and said,

"Well Twinkle Toes since you're here I guess you kicked the 'Looser Lord's' round butt square?"

Aang perked up at this and answered,

"Well yes, I was in real trouble for a time." Then he stood up and continued "But then, during the fight, I was able to unblock my seventh chakra and was able to access my Avatar state, and with my full Avatar powers he didn't stand a chance. But best of all I didn't have to… you know… finish him. I was able to take away his Firebending so he won't be a threat anymore."

"Sweet!" Toph cheered. "How'd you learn to do that?" she asked.

Aang began to bounce a bit as he told her,

"Well I met this giant Lion Turtle and he showed me."

Then he began to move around the room as he became more excited while telling her and apparently everyone else,

"Now I can access the Avatar state and control it anytime I need to. I also found out that I can't really be a true monk since I'm the Avatar, and being the Avatar means that I am tied to the world and can never know true enlightenment."

He was moving so quickly and lightly by now that Toph was having a hard time following him, both in what he was saying and where he was in the room. He continued with even more excitement in his voice,

"I am doomed to the cycle of rebirth!"

Toph thought he was sounding very happy about this, she also felt Katara's heart speed up.

"It is a sacrifice that all the Avatars have to make! All the Avatars must always be part of the cycle of death and rebirth, and live in the world."

By this time Toph could not feel him anywhere in the room, but could feel and hear the air moving. _He must be on his air scooter,_ she thought. Then there was a loud thump, _Did he just run into the wall?_ Toph asked herself. _Yup_ she told herself as she felt Aang hit the floor on the far side of the room, then picked himself up.

"Sorry to hear about the spiritual whatever, but great about the bending thing." Toph told him. "You have the best field trips!"

Then she tried to indicate Zuko and Katara with her hand while saying,

"And since you two are here I figure Azula is no longer a problem."

Zuko, who had been looking at Aang up until then suddenly turned when he heard his sister's name. He responded before Katara could with,

"Yes, Katara was great, even with the comet Azula was no match for her, and she saved my life too."

Sugar Queen, who had gone to see if Aang was alright, seemed to be surprised by what Zuko had just said, and began to protest,

"Zuko is the one who saved me. He had Azula beat but then she shot her lightning at me and he intercepted it."

Toph could feel Mai take a look at Katara then gave a hard look at Sparky, who seemed to give Mai a _What?_ look.

_Time to change the subject_ Toph thought, so she shouted out towards the kitchen,

"And since we are sitting here I guess the secret society of old people re-conquered Ba Sing Se!"

From the kitchen they all heard Iroh's reply,

"Yes it was most satisfying to 'Liberate' the city. Also you should know that nephew is the new Fire Lord, and he has ended the war. Destiny is a funny thing after all."

"That is great" Toph said "Congratulations, but don't expect me to call you anything but Sparky from now on. "

"I'm used to it by now" The Fire Lord replied. Everyone smiled at her insubordination and the newly anointed ruler's resignation.

Toph then looked down and said,

"So, out of everybody we were the only ones to fail in our mission."

They all looked up at Toph. There was an awkward moment before Aang came out with

"Oh no, you guys were great! You wiped out the entire airship fleet, for a while there I thought you were going to go after Ozai and leave me with nothing to do." Mai added,

"Suki told us how you saw Aang waiting for 'The Phoenix King', and how Sokka came up with the 'Airship Slice' idea." Mai then leaned forward with real interest and said "We don't really know what happened after you were separated from her. Can you fill us in?"

There was an embarrassed silence after that, and Toph could feel Sparky poke Glidy Girl, but she just ignored him. Mai was really interested in what had happened, and Toph could feel that the SukiGirl, whose heart rate had gone up, had also turned towards her. Toph told herself _Earthbenders meet things head on_.

"We had just lost Suki when we hit something, an airship I guess, and the one we were on just fell apart under us. Sokka was holding my hand "_his hands were always warm,_ Toph thought, _Katara's were cold, Aang's were soft and cool, Zuko's were hot and made her own hand sweat, but Sokka's were calloused like her own, strong, with long fingers, and they were always warm, even on the coldest mornings, his hands were warm and comforting._

"And we fell onto the metal hull of another airship."

_She was blind till she hit the metal, and then she could feel around her. Sokka landed near her and she could feel and hear hunks of metal landing all around her. Suddenly Sokka was Combat Sokka, that other person he became in a real fight. Moving surely, quickly, you never knew where he was going to be next. He was gone, off the metal, then she felt something land on top of her, Sokka had somehow jumped over and was over her now, supporting himself on his elbows and knees so he wasn't putting all his weight on her, just enough to hold her down and keep her safe. She felt one hand on her shoulder and the other on her head with his shoulders and back hunched against the falling debris. Then he was up and took her hand, he always had warm hands_

"He asked me to bend the rudder" _"Have I ever mentioned how sweet it is that you invented metal bending."_

She continued aloud,

"So the ship we were on would hit other ones and knock them out."

They were all listening now, even Iroh had come out of the kitchen and stood in the doorway listening. Toph continued,

"I felt someone open a hatch in the hull and Sokka's hand grabbed mine"_ his warm hand_ "and we started running, and I felt heat, like a fire blast, then we were falling and I was just hanging on to his hand, somehow he slowed us down for a few seconds, then we were free falling again, when suddenly he stopped and I jerked to a stop hanging from his hand"_ his strong hand_." I didn't know where we were. He cried out about his leg. He told me to hang on." She felt anger start to rise inside her." Then he was doing something, fighting I think," the anger crept into her voice when she said "but he wouldn't let me go!"

She remembered thinking _He should let me go, he would be free to fight_.

"Then he said 'it looks like this is the end', our hands kept slipping and then I was falling." She remembered thinking_ he's free now, he will be ok_

Toph was quiet for a moment then the anger grew stronger as she said,

"I heard his voice, he was shouting something. I felt someone grab me" _"I'll never let you go!" _" It was Sokka. He had his arms around me" _strong arms_," I grabbed him. We were still falling, I could feel the wind going past us, he said we only had a couple of seconds and I should get ready to start bending." _I love you Sokka!_ "I got ready but I couldn't feel the earth.""_I love you Toph!_", she felt his lips on hers, "for luck" he said. . She felt her eyes burning again but she didn't care, tears of grief and fury filled her eyes but she had to finish this, so she let the tears come.

"Then he said 'sorry Katara', then 'sorry Suki', then 'NOW!' and I was reaching, trying to feel the earth and bend it away and make it soft, and we hit something, and then I felt the earth and bent it as hard as I could but it was too late, I wasn't strong enough…" the anger was fully in her voice now. "He was so stupid!" She was almost shouting now. "He should have let me go! Just let me fall, but no, that big stupid…, rocks for brains had to protect me! Help me! He could have saved himself!" She was standing now, shouting, "If I could see," she raised her hands to her face, "if these useless eyes worked he would have been ok! But no they are useless and he was such an idiot… " She stopped, then pulled herself back in, the tears running down her cheeks. "I don't remember anything else till I woke up in that stupid bed."

Katara, her voice thick with tears, said,

"You did all you could."

"Well it wasn't enough, was it?" was Toph's angry reply as she sat in the chair again.

Aang came over to her saying,

"When I found you, the two of you were in a deep crater full of soft dust, so you see your bending worked." He placed a hand on her shoulder as he continued "Sokka probably hit a branch or something, you couldn't have done anything about that. The two of you were lying there in each other's arms. You looked so peaceful, as though you had just fallen asleep." He smiled as he said "Besides he has probably already been reborn by now and we will see him again at some time."

"Where is he, his body, now?" Toph asked. Aang replied,

"I left it there," to Aang, Sokka's body was just an empty husk abandoned by its spirit, "I covered it with a mound of earth. Then I brought you back to Suki and we came here, this was the closest place I could think of where you could get help."

"Thanks" she said. "I would like to go lie down for awhile" she told them as she began to walk back to her room.

Katara made a move towards her, but Toph waved her off with a,

"I'm fine now, I just want to rest a little."

And she made her way to her room and lay down on the floor.

* * *

To Be Concluded

* * *

**Disclaimer:** "Avatar the Last Airbender" the characters and the world were created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom or Paramount or some huge corporation. This is purely a work of fan fiction because I wanted to play in their world and I love the characters that they created.

* * *

Authors Notes:

This is part two of three parts.

Once again I am so sorry I am so behind on "I'll Walk You Home." I hope this will make up for it a little.

The description of Toph and Sokka after the fall is inspired by a picture of a young woman who had jumped from the Empire State Building in New York in 1950s. She had landed on a car and had crushed it. There was no sign of trauma, no blood, she looked as though she was asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Floating:

An Avatar: the Last Airbender fanfiction

* * *

Set up: This takes place after a previous story I wrote "Ten Seconds" which was at the end of the airship battle during "Sozin's Comet" where I had Toph fall from the airship, and Sokka jumps after her. This story is fairly straight forward but you might want to read the previous story first just for clarity.

* * *

Part: 3

* * *

Toph had her finger up her nose and she loved it. Katara had finally taken the bandages off and Toph's fingers were stiff, but they were free and she could use them. It was two days since she had woken up in that evil bed, and she finally had real clothes on and had gotten a lot of her strength back but her hands would be a problem for a while yet. She dug around in her nostril, her nails had grown, and she had to be careful not to scratch the inside of her nose but they were a good length for getting hold of boogers.

_Got you_ Toph bragged to herself as she got her nail onto the _giant, evil, monster booger_ in her left nostril. She started to work it down but then she found that it had captured a nose hair at some point and it was not going to let it go. She got enough of it down below the nostril so she could grab it between the nail on her index finger and her thumb nail. _One, two, three_ and she pulled it out, the hair coming with it. The sting from the hair being ripped out ran all the way up her nose, but _no pain no gain_ she told herself.

Toph rolled the booger between her thumb and forefinger, and then she shot it onto the floor. She felt it hit, then moved her heel over and crushed it into the stone of the floor. She could feel the air moving through both sides of her nose. She raised her hands over her head in triumph, she had won _The Battle of the Booger, Toph you rule_ she sang in her head. _That was the best feeling_ she told herself, then she remembered the feeling of lips touching her own, of strong arms around her, of a warm hand in her own, _no not the best_. She felt the tears begin again. _Oh, not again!_ She complained, _stupid useless eyes, when are you going to stop this!_ It had been going on for two days now! She would just start to cry with no control, no stopping it.

Toph used the heels of her palms to wipe the tears away. She sat in the earth chair she had made in her room. Katara had not understood why Toph had made an earthchair when there were two perfectly good wooden chairs in the room. _No, Katara would never understand_ Toph told herself. She lifted her foot up onto the seat of the chair. _Now for some good toe picking_ she thought, luxuriating in the anticipation of it, but when she felt her toes she found that someone had washed her feet. _Those idiots!_ She complained, _why would anyone wash my feet!_ she asked herself in frustration. _If Sokka had been here…_ she began, but that just started the tears again.

* * *

Toph sat in her room thinking as the day wore on. She had heard GlidyGirl and Sparky talking earlier. They had not realized she could hear them, but you could hear a lot through a wall, especially if you were Toph and the wall was made of stone. Glidy had told Sparky that she thought Sokka could have saved himself but had launched himself after Toph on purpose, had even avoided landing on The Suki Girl's airship just to get to Toph. That Sokka had never expected to survive, that was what the "sorry Katara" and the "sorry Suki" had been about. He had sacrificed himself to be with Toph, so that she would not have to die alone, falling in absolute darkness.

Toph wasn't sure if Mai was right but she felt she had to do something, everything seemed over now. _Team Avatar_ was no longer a team, the war was over, and she was on her own again. She was not going home, that was clear, and she couldn't go back to The Earth Rumble, that just seemed so pointless and selfish after losing… someone. She had to do something, and she spent the day trying to think of what it would be.

Toph finally decided what she was going to do. She figured it must be late, since she was very hungry and there was no activity in the house and very little on the streets. She went to the kitchen and after a rather tedious search, _stupid wooden cupboards_, found what she needed. She brought the supplies back to her room, took one of the blankets from the _evil bed_, put the supplies in it and rolled it up into a bundle she could easily carry. She shouldered her bindle and quietly left the house and made her way out of the city.

* * *

It took Toph longer then she had expected to get clear of the city and by the time she made it into the surrounding open country she was very tired, and very, very hungry. She set up a cold camp by simply unrolling her blanket and raising an earthtent. She went through her supplies and found the cha siu bao she had taken just for this moment. She ate it almost in one bite, and a lot of chewing, then, using water from the gourd she had filled, swallowed it down. She had one more she was saving for tomorrow, after that it would be dried fruit and such. She had not found any jerky in the kitchen, _typical_ she thought. _If Meathead had been in the house, it would be full of jerky, fire flakes, all the good stuff_ she added to herself. This last started her eyes burning with tears again.

"Stupid, useless eyes!" she cried out! "Can't see anything, but you work perfectly when it comes time for the water works!"

She pushed the tears down again by taking deep breaths. _I'm just tired_ she told herself.

The young bender thought about her plan, it was really very simple, she would find Sokka, she would find Space Sword and Boomerang and bring them to him. Then she would raise a mountain over him, not just any mountain but the tallest mountain in the world. It wasn't right that he should be lying there all alone, forgotten. She did not care how long it took, even if it took her the rest of her life. He had given his for her, so the least she could do would be to give hers for him. She felt that this was the right decision and she was going to stick to it no matter what. Thinking about the plan started her eyes to fill with tears again.

_Not this again!_ Toph screamed at herself. She was so sick of this stupid crying, she was so sick of her _stupid useless eyes, can't see anything but you can cry all the time! Perfect for that! _she ranted in her head. She tried to force the tears down but it didn't work this time. Her stomach began to flutter, and the tears just kept coming.

"Useless!" she spoke aloud now! "If you stupid things worked, I could have seen the ground and started bending sooner and saved both of us."

The frustration kept building making her voice louder and angrier.

"If you actually did your job, I wouldn't have been the 'Helpless Little Blind Girl' and he wouldn't have tried to save me. He would have let me go and saved himself!" She was sobbing now, "All you ever do is cry!"

Then the anger came to the front and turned her voice cold and full of purpose,

"I have had it with you useless things! This is it! I am getting rid of you!" She brought her hands up to her face reaching for her eyes.

"Toph Stop!" a voice called out.

Shocked Toph called out,

"What? Who's there?"

_Great! Some idiot has heard all of this_ she thought. _Wait a minute_ she told herself _That is impossible_ she was in her earthtent, no one could have gotten in, besides she would have felt them approaching. She placed her hands on the ground and sent a wave of bending out. She felt the wave return and there was no one anywhere near her.

"Ah? Toph?" a voice said, "Sorry I didn't mean to startle you."

Toph heard it, he was right there in front of her. _He!_ she told herself, it was him! Her voice quavering she asked,

"Sokka?"

The young girl wiped the tears off of her face and then reached out for him. She felt nothing. Her hands made no contact, and her feet told her that no one was within leagues of her.

"Is that you?" she asked the air.

"Yea, it's me!" she heard from in front of her.

It was definitely Sokka's voice. She reached out again but felt nothing.

"Sokka where are you?" she asked the emptiness around her" They said your were dead, I have been going crazy thinking you were gone!"

"Oh… sorry, no… yea I'm dead." Toph heard Sokka reply. "Yup… I'm as dead as dead can be. 'Dead as a door nail!" he told her, then in an introspective tone asked "Now why is a door nail deader than any other kind of nail?" Then he added to himself "I think I read that someplace."

"Meathead!" Toph said letting a little of her frustration creep into her voice.

"Sorry!" he said defensively, "I got distracted. I am a spirit Toph" Then with an arch edge to his voice he went on, "A ghost of my former self." He began to laugh at his own joke. "Boy! I've still got it, yes sir…" he said to himself as he continued to laugh.

"That is not funny!" Toph told him. Sokka replied in a hurt tone,

"Oh come on that was pretty good, besides I've been waiting to use it for days".

"It still wasn't funny!" Toph rendered her decision, crossing her arms over her chest, though a small grin did find its way onto her face. Then she leaned forward toward the voice and asked accusingly "Snoozles, if you're a spirit what are you doing here? Only the Avatar can move between the spirit world and the real one." She had him with that, her logic had proved that he must still be alive somehow.

Sokka was ready for her,

"Well Toph" he began in his Wang Fire voice, "You see I am very special".

In her mind's eye Toph could see him stroking that ridiculous phony beard of his.

"Before you joined 'Team Avatar'" he continued "this forest spirit monster, who was actually a giant panda, well a giant spirit panda, took me body and spirit, when he was the spirit monster, not the spirit panda, into the spirit world. Ever since then my body and spirit have been different. I don't know if my body is partially in the spirit world and my spirit in the real world, but anyway I am different." Then he added with a little tone of sadness in his voice "Also I have a friend, and she was able to help me."

"You mean the girl from the play, who became the moon?" Toph asked.

"Yes, Yue," he replied.

Neither said anything for a moment, but finally Sokka broke the silence with,

"So I came back and have been following you around for a while". Then he added in his spooky story voice, "I've been haunting you. Ooooooo…"

Toph didn't even acknowledge this with a smirk. A little deflated the young warrior went on,

"Well so I was in the spirit world, and it's really boring, and none of the people there, and there are a ton of Air Nomads let me tell you, have any sense of humor, I mean after Aang I would have thought the Air Nomads would appreciate a good joke, but I couldn't get a rise out of any of them. So I was thinking about how much I missed you guys."

Now it was Toph's turn to feel a little deflated _he missed all of us_ she told herself.

"Especially you!" The tribesman said, "I know you're just a kid, and I don't want to get weird or anything, but you're the one I could talk to, even more than my sister, or Suki. I didn't have to be anyone else around you, because you were never going to be impressed with anything I did, so I could just be me with you. You were the one I could spend all day with and have a good time. I guess I just really missed… you." He became quiet, she could tell he was embarrassed by the admission and he softly finished with "So I did what I could, and got some help and came over to see you again."

After a time Toph said,

"Katara missed you a lot" then trying to sound nonchalant she added "but I was ok, I didn't see what all the fuss was about".

She felt very successful at hiding her feelings until a tear came and began to dance at the bottom of her eye, threatening to run down her cheek. Sokka responded with,

"I have been following you around for the last three days Toph. I know you have been having problems, and I have to tell you, you had me really worried." She bridled at this saying

"I've been fine!"

"Toph I have to tell you something, it's kind of the reason I am here." Sokka's voice became earnest as he continued. "You are not to blame for anything that happened to me."

She looked up to protest this but Sokka continued on before she could say anything,

"I did what I wanted to do. It was my choice, it had nothing to do with you being blind. I did what I wanted to do because I love you. I don't know 'how' I love you, I mean as a friend or as a sister, or as a girl… I don't know. I am very confused about that right now. But I do know that I wasn't going to let you fall all alone. I was going to be there for you no matter what. You don't owe me a thing."

"You saved my life!" Toph told him "I owe you everything!"

"No, Toph! I owe you!" Sokka answered. "You made my life special. You made me a success." His voice became passionate as he went on,

"My life had been nothing but mistakes, and failures up till then. You are my great success, you lived. If I had let you die alone I could not have gone on. You have already paid me back more than I can tell you just by being here. And I want to ask you to do one thing for me, to make me a real success, to make me really happy. I want you to live your life!" His voice grew serious, "Celebrate your life, your youth, be as great as only you can be! Find someone who loves you and love him right back!"

"I have!" Toph answered.

Sokka was quiet for a moment then Toph felt something touch her hands, like a light breath of warm wind.

"I will be with you as long as I can, but I don't know how long that will be. If there is anything in this reincarnation stuff then in some life I will find you. In some future life when you are a totally awesome new person, some annoying guy is going to come up and bother you. He is going to grab onto you and never let you go."

The _touch_ left Toph's hands.

"I have to go soon."

"No!" she said plaintively. Sokka said,

"Sorry, but that's the spirit bizz." Then more seriously "Let me tell you the things I miss. I miss being with you, being with my family, and being with my friends. So always enjoy those people you love, Toph, because no matter how much time you have with them, it is never enough."

She felt a wisp of air move her bangs on her face as he said

"Toph I always loved your eyes, they are beautiful, and the way you always seem to be looking ten years into the future. Seeing them always stopped my heart."

Then she felt something touch her lips, just a light tingle, then, it was gone.

Toph called out

"Sokka?" but there was no answer.

She let the tears come then, she accepted them now.

* * *

Mai was crossing the main room of the house, she was very distracted, and at first had not heard the knock on the door. She was coming from the kitchen where she had been washing dishes. This was an entirely new experience for her, she had had servants all her life and had never washed anything, well except herself, but even that was not required, she just didn't like people touching her. But to actually do dishes was a new and terrible experience, well at least at first. She and Suki had been assigned the job, and Mai quickly discovered that she hated it and made it obvious in her attitude.

Suki had noticed and suggested they play a game that Sokka had taught her, apparently he had not liked washing dishes either. The game was to figure out who had used the bowl, cup, plate, chop sticks, etc… by what was left on them. Suki had claimed the easiest was always Sokka since he left all the vegetables in little piles all around the outside. Toph was next since everything was ordered in little groups. Mai was thinking of how she wished she had had a chance to meet Sokka and not just fight him, though fighting him she felt had given her a good insight into his character, when she finally heard the knocking on the door.

It took Mai a few seconds to realize that there were no servants and that, being the closest, she should answer the knocking. She went to the door and opened it, she saw Toph standing there, looking unsure, and nervous, when a strange thing happened. Mai could not feel it but it seemed that a little breeze ruffled Toph's bangs. Toph became calm then, and walked into the house sitting down in one of the chairs in the main room and put her feet up on a table.

Mai closed the door and stood wondering what had brought Toph back, she realized it did not really matter, strangely she was glad Toph had returned, she had missed her. Mai then got an idea for a Suki-ism, Suki had obviously never lived with servants, and had come from a largish family. She was constantly making announcements to the house about things. Mai felt a delicious thrill of being bad run through her. She had always been told by her parents to be quiet and stay out of the way. She coughed quietly to clear her throat, she was not very good at being loud yet but she was getting better. As loud as she could speak, she announced to the house,

"Toph's home!"

* * *

The End

**

* * *

**

**Disclaimer:** "Avatar: the Last Airbender" the characters and the world were created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom or Paramount or some huge corporation. This is purely a work of fan fiction because I wanted to play in their world and I love the characters that they created.

* * *

Authors notes:

This was the second story I ever wrote and it is over a year old now. I hope it has held up and I hope I have improved since then. I still like this story.

Sorry about being so late with the update for "I'll Walk You Home". Hopefully this will make up for the delay in some way.

Thank you very much for reading.

JustThisGuyYouKnow


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